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Man in RNC Molotov cocktail case pleads guilty

(AP) - One of the men accused of making Molotov
cocktails during the Republican National Convention reversed
himself in court Tuesday and pleaded guilty to federal charges.

David Guy McKay, 23, of Austin, Texas, pleaded guilty to three
counts, including one count of possession of an unregistered
firearm, one count of illegal manufacture of a firearm and one
count of possession of a firearm with no serial number.

Previously he had fought the charges, claiming he was entrapped
by a government informant, but on Tuesday he told a federal judge
that he and Bradley Neal Crowder would have made the bombs with or
without the informant.

"I think we would've done it anyways," he said.

McKay's trial ended with a hung jury in January. A retrial was
scheduled to start this week, but he avoided that with his plea.

Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis ordered McKay into
custody. McKay had been free on bond following his mistrial.

McKay had tried to plead guilty on Monday. He said that while he
wanted to take responsibility for what he did, the government
informant, Brandon Darby, also had a role.

Davis refused to accept that plea agreement and adjourned the
hearing until Tuesday. By then, McKay decided to tell the judge
that Darby played no role in the decision to make the Molotov
cocktails.

He claimed he, Crowder and Darby had discussed making firebombs,
but that he couldn't remember who came up with the idea first.
McKay said he and Crowder intended to do violence.

"We didn't need Brandon there to make them," he said of the
bombs.

The men were part of a Texas group that came to St. Paul to
protest at the convention, which was held Sept. 1-4 at the Xcel
Energy Center.

McKay was arrested Sept. 3 during a raid on an
apartment in St. Paul during which eight Molotov cocktails -
gasoline-filled bottles with improvised wicks - were seized.

Prosecutors claim that McKay told an informant that he intended
to throw the firebombs at police vehicles parked near the
apartment.

Darby was a well-known Texas activist who has said he became
disenchanted with some of the radical elements of the activist
community. He acted as an FBI informant and infiltrated the group.

Crowder pleaded guilty in January and is awaiting sentencing. He
didn't testify in McKay's first trial, but was scheduled to do so
in the retrial.